Nepal will start repairs and reconstruction next week for nearly a million homes damaged by last year's deadly earthquakes, the head of a state agency said on Saturday, nearly nine months after the disaster left hundreds of thousands homeless, reports Reuters.
Following last year's earthquake, many are forced to brave freezing temperatures living in temporary shelters made from tarps and corrugated iron sheets. "We realise that the victims are very much in trouble. We'll start the reconstruction work from January 16," Sushil Gyewali, chief of the National Reconstruction Authority, told reporters.
The agency was launched in September but political squabbling has delayed the deployment of $4.1 billion pledged by foreign donors for reconstruction.